


Doorknobs and Bath Bombs

by katrinawritesthings



Category: SHINee
Genre: Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-05
Updated: 2018-11-05
Packaged: 2019-08-19 09:01:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,867
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16531499
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/katrinawritesthings/pseuds/katrinawritesthings
Summary: when you’ve replaced a couple doorknobs before in your life and it’s super easy and you totally don’t need any help at all“Uh,” Jonghyun says. He hesitates, and Taemin hears a short sigh, and then Jonghyun says “uh” again. “Uh, you know how,” he says slowly. “When you left, you were like, ‘Don’t lock yourself in the bathroom,’ and I was like, ‘I won’t,’ and then you left?”tumblrtwitter poll





	Doorknobs and Bath Bombs

“Are you sure you’ll–where’d you get that hat?” Taemin looks up from their shopping list to do a doubletake at Jonghyun’s bright yellow construction hat and the lopsided grin he has on under it. He reaches up to feel it with his palm, and then to knock his knuckles gently against it. It’s hard, thick plastic instead of flimsy novelty plastic and he exhales softly in disbelief. “Is this  _real_?” he asks. Jonghyun grins wider and nods, patting it himself.

“Gotta protect the ol’ noggin when you’re doing construction work,” he says importantly. Taemin snorts and taps the brim of it down so Jonghyun has to poke it back up and adjust it.

“Is replacing a bathroom doorknob really construction work, though?” he asks. “ _Where’d_  you get it?” he adds, a serious question.

“Yeah, what if the cabinet opens by itself and one of my billion bottles of listerine falls on my head and gives me a concussion?” Jonghyun asks. He gestures at the cabinet above them, which, to his credit, does actually just pop open sometimes. “Also, Home Depot,” he adds with a shrug. “I thought it would make me look, like, rugged and hot. What do you think?” He strikes a pose, putting one foot on the rim of the bath, lacing his fingers behind his head, and casually flexing his sleeveless arms. He also wiggles his eyebrows and Taemin can’t help but giggle.

“Like a babe,” he admits. Jonghyun winks and straightens up only to lean against the sink right after.

“Anyway, what were you saying?” he asks. Taemin blinks blankly at him. Was he saying something? Fuck. He looks down to his hands, his wallet, the shopping list. It wasn’t that. Maybe something about maybe wanting Taemin to grab him a coffee from the store? Fast food on the way back? No? “Am I sure I’ll what?” Jonghyun prompts him. Taemin puffs his lips, repeats those words in his head, and then gasps softly in realization. Oh, right, oh.

“Oh,” he says. He puts his hand on the janky bathroom doorknob. “Are you sure you don’t want me to help before I go?” he asks, jiggling it a little. He doesn’t know how complicated doorknobs are and he feels like he should offer. Jonghyun shrugs, though, and shakes his head.

“No, it’s easy,” he says. “I’ve done it twice before. It takes like ten minutes.” He reaches around Taemin to pap his butt gently. “Go shopping,” he says. “I’ll be done before you get back.”

“Okie dokie then,” Taemin says. He pushes Jonghyun’s hand away so he can put his wallet in his butt pocket and turns to walk down the hallway. “Don’t lock yourself in the bathroom,’” he calls over his shoulder.

“I won’t,” Jonghyun calls back. Taemin grins to himself as he walks out of the front door. Jonghyun is really cute and he loves him a lot. He keeps his hand on his butt all the way to the car, just so he doesn’t have to keep checking that he hasn’t forgotten his wallet, and gets comfy in the driver’s seat. He starts the car, flips through their radio channels until he hears a good song, backs out onto the street, and heads down to the store.

When he gets there two songs later, he parks by an abandoned shopping cart some asshole didn’t put into the designated area so he can just grab that one instead of struggling with the chain of carts by the door. He’s unbuckling himself and opening the door when his hip starts vibrating. He pauses, looking down and leaning to the side so he can wiggle his phone out of his pocket. Glancing at it, he raises his eyebrows when he sees that it’s Jonghyun that’s calling him.

“Uh, hello?” he says when he answers it. “Did you remember something for the list or what?” he asks.

“Uh,” Jonghyun says. He hesitates, and Taemin hears a short sigh, and then Jonghyun says “uh” again. “Uh, you know how,” he says slowly. “When you left, you were like, ‘Don’t lock yourself in the bathroom,’ and I was like, ‘I won’t,’ and then you left?”

“Yeah,” Taemin says, and then, as Jonghyun sighs again and a slow grin spreads over his face, “Jonghyun.”

“It was an accident,” Jonghyun whines. Taemin closes his car door so he can lean against it and giggle. Fuck.

“Do you want me to come back and rescue you, or?” he asks between his laughter.

“I mean,” Jonghyun says, and sighs again. “No,” he pouts. Taemin can tell he’s pouting because his voice is suddenly much tinier and cuter than usual. He smothers more soft chuckles into his hand. “I can wait, I just. Felt like I should let you know.” There’s a soft rustling noise that sounds like the shower curtain and Taemin imagines Jonghyun sitting on the rim of the tub, grumpy and small and adorable. He runs his fingers through his hair and glances at the store.

“Want me to get you a fresh warm cookie from the bakery?” he asks. Fresh warm cookies always make Jonghyun feel better. He hears more rustling, which he assumes is Jonghyun wiggling, and then the tiniest, poutiest, “yes please.” Taemin smiles as he pulls out his wallet, takes out the list, and scribbles “Big Cookie” on the top. “Okay,” he says. “I’ll be back soon.” He pauses to listen to Jonghyun’s dejected little hum of agreement. He smiles again, softened by his little bub. “Don’t bonk your noggin on anything,” he says. That gets him a quiet giggle.

“If I do I’ll still be safe,” Jonghyun says. “Bye bye.”

“Later,” Taemin grins. He hangs up and sticks his phone back in his pocket. Getting out of the car, he checks it’s locked seven times and then grabs the cart to wheel it into the store. While he’s in there, he gets Jonghyun a fresh warm cookie and a vanilla milkshake in a bottle.

When he gets home, he lugs all of the groceries in and puts all the stuff that needs to be refrigerated away, but leaves the rest for later. He grabs Jonghyun’s nice warm cookie and milkshake and takes them down the hallway. Behind the closed door, he hears music that sounds like it’s being played from a shitty phone speaker and Jonghyun’s soft voice accompanying it.

Grabbing the doorknob, he opens the door and first glances at the other side to snort at the gaping hole there. He steps out of his shoe and puts it between the door and the doorframe so they don’t  _both_  get locked in here next. Then he looks up to find Jonghyun and registers mild surprise when he finds him in the bath, covered up to the neck in pink bubbles and glitter. Jonghyun has some of his tiny light pink scented candles set up around the rim too and the whole room smells like strawberry ice cream and sparkly lip gloss. His phone is set on the windowsill to play soft music and Jonghyun’s eyes are closed as he sings along. He’s also still wearing his hard hat.

Taemin’s heart melts a little bit.

He steps up and crouches down at the rim of the tub near Jonghyun’s head, careful to not set himself on fire from his candles. Jonghyun’s hands move as he sings, fingers splishing out of the water every so often, and his nose twitches and his eyebrows scrunch and lift in the most endearing way. Taemin dips his finger into the water and then reaches up to poke glitter onto Jonghyun’s round nose.

“Hey,” he says softly as he does it.

Jonghyun’s eyes snap open and he jumps like a mile, splashing enough water out of the tub to get Taemin wet and extinguish one of his candles.

“ _Jeez_ –oh, it’s you–hey, Tae, fuck,” he says. His face goes through a whole range of emotions there and settles on embarrassed, cheeks as pink as his water. He giggles and lifts a hand to cover his mouth. “Sorry,” he grins, pointing at the wetness on Taemin’s shirt. Taemin grins back and shakes his head. He doesn’t mind.

“Here,” he says, handing Jonghyun his cookie. Jonghyun hisses a little _ooh_ of excitement and reaches for a small towel on the shampoo rack to dry his hands with before he takes it. He holds the paper wrapper in both hands and takes a big bite, melting blissfully as he chews and sinking half an inch deeper into his bath.

“Thanks, lovie,” he says. Taemin shakes his milkshake bottle for him and cracks that open as well, reaching over him to put it next to the shampoo. Then he just rests his forearms on the rim of the tub and rests his chin in them.

“Self care?” he asks, raising amused brows. Jonghyun winks back with a little finger pistol.

“You know it,” he says. “Nothing stops an impending self-esteem breakdown like a pink bath bomb and mood music.” Taemin laughs softly and holds his hand out for a piece of cookie. Jonghyun breaks a chunk with a big chocolate chip off and drops it in his palm.

“I’m glad you’re feeling good,” he says as he eats it. He wants his bub to feel nice always. It’s good that Jonghyun knows how to treat himself so well.

“Thanks,” Jonghyun says again. He lifts one arm and drapes it dramatically over the brim of his hard hat. “When this bath starts getting cold and disappointing, wanna help me finish the doorknob?” he asks with a little smirk. Taemin snorts and chuckles into his arms.

“I thought it was easy?” he says. Locking himself in by accident aside, he means.

“Yeah, but you can help by watching me and praising me and telling me how hot and handy I am,” Jonghyun says. “And you can tell me how strong my arms are, and how skilled my hands look, and how you’ve always dreamed of having sex with a rugged and sexy construction work–”

Taemin interrupts him by snorting into loud laughter.

He leans back on his hands and laughs at the ceiling, face all scrunched up and hair falling into his eyes. Fuck. Fucky fuck. Jonghyun smiles patiently at him and eats his cookie, sips his milkshake. He wiggles his brows whenever Taemin catches his eye, too. It makes his hard hat wiggle as well, which just makes Taemin laugh more until he’s out of breath. He loves Jonghyun a lot.

“I love you a lot,” he says eventually, when he gets his breath back and sits up straight again. “Like, a lot a lot a lot.” He loves Jonghyun so much in every way. “Yeah, I’ll tell you you’re a babe and feel you up while you work,” he says. He’ll definitely do that. Jonghyun smiles and puckers his lips so Taemin leans over to press a quick smooch to them. Before he can pull away, Jonghyun slides his hand around the back of his neck and presses a softer, slower kiss to his mouth.

“I love you a lot too,” he smiles. Taemin’s heart melts a little bit more.

**Author's Note:**

> #im Gay  
> #so are they  
> #jong took off the inside doorknob and tossed it outside and then closed the door so he could read the instructions  
> #and then he was like Okay Time To Take Off The Outside Doorknob  
> #except he couldnt open the door bc the inside doorknob was on the floor. outside.  
> #jonghyun: I Have Made A Mistake  
> #but he has a pink bath bomb and summer scoop candles and girl group songs and hes glittery and happy  
> #when jongs bath starts getting cold nd disappointing he gets out and dries off and taem sits on the counter and watches him do the doorknob  
> #and talks about how Strong and Handsome and Glittery and Skilled he is  
> #and jongs uwu uwu uwu and they do the whole Sexy Rugged Construction Worker thing nd then when they hit the bed  
> #jong is immediately all little and giggly and wiggly  
> #which taem expected anyway so  
> #they frick nd its good


End file.
